Not content with just criticizing Windows Vista itself, Apple has launched a pair of new TV spots that accuse Microsoft of launching its ad blitz to distract the public from the problems with its software.

The two ads, which first began airing this weekend, continue to feature John Hodgman and Justin Long in their familiar PC and Mac roles but question the direct lack of references to Microsoft's own product.

The first, "Bean Counter," is the most direct and tackles Microsoft's well-publicized $300 million marketing campaign for Windows, which already includes $10 million just for a set of ads featuring Jerry Seinfeld as well as the company's usual online, print and TV efforts.

Long's persona suggests that PC -- and thus Microsoft -- is putting far more money into marketing Windows than into fixing it, creating a smokescreen to mask the problems with its latest operating system.

In turn, "V Word" jabs Microsoft for its conscious decision to avoid mentioning Vista by name in its "I'm a PC" counter-campaign, which tries to shift the focus to the general Windows brand. Bringing up Vista simply "doesn't sit well" with PC users irritated with the platform, Hodgman's character says.

Apple's "Bean Counter" ad.

Apple's "V Word" ad.

The two spots escalate the war of words between the two competitors, which had avoided directly referencing each other until Apple's "Get a Mac" ads began in 2006 and the company's computer sales growth started outpacing that of most Windows PC makers. While it's never been clear whether or not the ads and sales are connected, Microsoft has increasingly charged Apple with hijacking the Windows message and successfully persuading the public that Vista is flawed even after Service Pack 1 and other fixes are said to have sorted out most of the teething troubles with the new software.

But while Apple has lately shifted its attention more to commenting on Microsoft than the positives of its own platform, Microsoft has also taken to spreading doubt through indirect channels: on the eve of the new MacBook launch this month, one executive sent email messages allegedly meant for employees that support the widespread notion of an "Apple Tax" and of unnecessarily excluding hardware and upgrade options from its systems. The Redmond, Washington-based firm has also taken to shadowing Apple's retail efforts by creating Microsoft Gurus that fulfill a similar role to Apple's Genius Bars and Mac Specialists.

Outside of its commercials, Apple has typically been less imitative but no less blunt, using its recent MacBook presentation to directly credit perceived problems with Windows Vista for driving customers to the Mac.

AAPL and MSFT are behaving like candidates for elective office from two different
parties. They spend more time attacking their opponents than promoting their
own ideas (products). I'm getting tired of it in both arenas.

This is all a little immature isn't it? I mean they're massive corporations!

Yeah, enough with the negative campaigning already. Vote Nader!

Personally, as a Mac convert, I have to agree with the general sentiment of these ads, and find them very funny. But Apple has to be careful not to become Big Brother. It may end up that Apple gets so popular that someone will have to throw the hammer at THEM.

As a future switcher, I empathize with these ads, but, if I didn't know that the Mac was better, these latest ads would do nothing to inform me. No need to focus on Windows' pain points, as users already feel it. Instead better inform that Mac does not have those pain points.

Mac is easier for users to: secure, backup, reinstall, use and get professional help for. Tell THAT story Apple - because it's amazing how many potential Apple switchers do not yet know. And again, as a future switcher, going to an Apple Store was a revelation - it's the tech support team "for the rest of us".

Many of the most important software concepts were invented in the 70s and forgotten in the 80s.

As a future switcher, I empathize with these ads, but, if I didn't know that the Mac was better, these latest ads would do nothing to inform me. No need to focus on Windows' pain points, as users already feel it. Instead better inform that Mac does not have those pain points.

Mac is easier for users to: secure, backup, reinstall, use and get professional help for. Tell THAT story Apple - because it's amazing how many potential Apple switchers do not yet know. And again, as a future switcher, going to an Apple Store was a revelation - it's the tech support team "for the rest of us".

Actually, many of those Mac ads DO highlight Mac's plusses, without slamming PC (though PC does appear disappointed with Mac's security, reliability, and ease-of-use.)

As a recent convert to Apple, I had never saw the ads until later, but had become very upset every time I used my PC. All I wanted to do was have the computer work, it kept failing me and I was tired of the crashing and the bugs that even XP had and the constant patches that I had to have for it work.

I walked into the Apple store after seeing some Vista powered PC's at a local store and I walked out with my iMac. This thing works and it does everything I need it to do.

I never even saw the ads until after I got my iMac and was on Apples website and then I watched them and found that they are funny. The latest ad just follows in the line of the others and I think at least Apple has a sense of humor

The undeniable truth of the matter is that throwing money into advertising is all Microsoft CAN do to improve Vista. Anyone involved in coding and product design knows all too well that the more people and resources one heaves at any project, the more complex and labyrinthine it becomes. That is, if 200 people working on a project takes 4 years to complete, putting 400 people on it will take 6 to 8. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

It's hard to believe these ads have been showing for over 2 years! And they're still hillarious! That's practically unheard of in the commercial biz. But it's not simply "good advertising". The ads wouldn't work if Apple didn't make amazing products that speak for themselves. Microsoft has no amazing products, so it doesn't matter how much money they throw at advertising, because the underlying problem is their faulty product. That's what the Apple ad is very successfully pointing out I think. It's more than just a jab.

As oppose to... I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...I am a PC...

I think these are two of the funniest ads in the series so far. But "Mac" should have also said something about "Mojave" in the second ad. After all, does anyone really believe that Microsoft slapping a fake name on Vista really fooled those people in that earlier ad?

I think this is only the 2nd Get A Mac ad that actually mentions that mentions 'Windows" by name, which I think Apple has been very careful to refer to anything not a Mac as being generic. Those two ads are "V Word" and "Touché". They've mentioned 'Vista' in a few ads, but not as Windows Vista.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolchak

I think these are two of the funniest ads in the series so far. But "Mac" should have also said something about "Mojave" in the second ad. After all, does anyone really believe that Microsoft slapping a fake name on Vista really fooled those people in that earlier ad?

I don't think Mojave is well known enough by name.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I find the original Microsoft ads kind of funny and real paranoia. Microsoft has such a large market share that Apple is still very small. Yet they are so worried about dropping below 90% that the are reduced to negative ads.

savage |ˈsavij|
adjective(of an animal or force of nature) fierce, violent, and uncontrolled : tales of a savage beast | a week of savage storms....
These ads are everything but savage, since when AppleInsider became Microsoft protector?...

I think they meant "savage" in the sense of a transitive verb (subject to a vicious verbal attack).

In Windows, a window can be a document, it can be an application, or it can be a window that contains other documents or applications. Theres just no consistency. Its just a big grab bag of monkey...

I love the "V" - one. Of course this is childish but Apple is doing the right thing by riding the wave (they created in part). Doing nothing would be foolish. I love the way the V ad pokes fun at the childishness of it. At the end we are literally watching two kids bickering about a word. The way Mac ges the word Vista in there is hilarious.

I think these are two of the funniest ads in the series so far. But "Mac" should have also said something about "Mojave" in the second ad. After all, does anyone really believe that Microsoft slapping a fake name on Vista really fooled those people in that earlier ad?

Imagine I installed a children game on my vista laptop and it can't play, prompting the missing msvcr80.dll error. What's that?
After many days of googling, I finally found the solution: To uninstall Office 2007.

The obvious test for effective advertising is whether a correlation can be measured with increased sales. And that's all that matters. I don't know about the rest of the world but can offer a sample size of two. We switched my wife to an iMac last month, and my new unibody MacBook w/320MB HD flew in from Shanghai over the weekend and landed this a.m. The Mac ads made a significant dent in my thinking, while I look at all those "I'm a PC" folks and ask - "But WHY are you a PC?!"

I admit to being a Fanatical Moderate. I Disdain the Inane. Vyizderzominymororzizazizdenderizorziz?

Great. They can use old "Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy" skits for training films.
My God, what fresh hell they must face every day. To stand around a retail store and tackle the average Windows user's new problem with a mishmash of hardware. Don't forget your bandelero of rescue floppies...

... so I'm still waiting for the one where PC comes running in stage left out of breath fresh from his "I'm a PC" ad... And do we have a count of hate mail for poor sean@windows.com? Please tell me that guy's getting 1 year vesting MS stock for being the whipping boy...

savage |ˈsavij|
adjective(of an animal or force of nature) fierce, violent, and uncontrolled : tales of a savage beast | a week of savage storms.cruel and vicious; aggressively hostile : they launched a savage attack on the budget.
(chiefly in historical or literary contexts) primitive; uncivilized.
(of a place) wild-looking and inhospitable; uncultivated.(of something bad or negative) very great; severe : this would deal a savage blow to the government's fight.

cli·che \\klē-ˈshā, ˈklē-ˌ, kli-ˈ\\
noun
1: a trite phrase or expression ; also: the idea expressed by it
2: a hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation
3: something (as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace